So much for keeping my distance.
As he drives away, my smile fades, because those words felt like a betrayal.
I enter the New Orpheum by the side door and cut through the dance school wing on my way to the residence area.
Back in my room, I drop my bag on the floor and sit limply on the bed, feeling utterly drained.
My weariness tonight isn’t exactly physical. Being a vampire means that my body’s cells—all except the blood cells—regenerate fast. I’m basically immune to disease, I heal quickly, and I have more strength, speed, and stamina than normal humans do. My vampiric nature is a huge advantage when I dance, and it will ensure that any strain to my vocal cords heals swiftly. But it doesn’t keep me from feeling mentally exhausted, and while I need less sleep than most people, I still require at least a few hours to help my brain reset itself.
I tug off my boots and flop back on the bed, trying to banish the masked man from my mind. Instead, I focus on Raoul’s lean, earnest face, his lovely green eyes, his smile.
“Raoul,” I whisper.
“Simpering fool,” hisses a voice.
I sit bolt upright, goose bumps breaking out on my skin.
After a long moment, I venture a whisper of my own. “Angel?”
“That boy is no true devotee of music.” The Angel’s voice seemsto come from the very walls of my room. “He uses wires and electronics and tricks. He is pretty, yes, but ensnared with the fashions of modern performance. Do not let him lead you astray.”
“Where have you been?” Angry tears spring to my eyes. “I waited for you that night, after my audition.”
“One night.” His voice dips low, a menacing purr. “You waited forone night, and when I could not meet you, you gave up on me—onus, Christine. You abandoned your teacher, abhorred my guidance. You achieved a little success, and now you believe you do not require any further instruction.”
“That’s not true,” I gasp. “Well…maybe it’s true that I gave up on you too quickly, but you didn’t reach out to me. You’re a ghost. You should be able to speak with me anytime. Just like this.”
“A ghost,” he repeats dryly. “Yes, to you, I’m nothing but a phantom. Your mysterious angel from whom you drink knowledge until you are glutted, and then you abandon me for someone likehim.”
“Raoul is a good person, and he’s talented.”
“Had I not taught you and guided you, you would never have had the courage to sing for him or anyone else.”
Sighing, I tug my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them. “I’m grateful to you, of course. But I was angry when you didn’t meet me. So many people have disappointed me throughout my life, but I thought I could trust you to always be there. When you weren’t, ithurt. I thought you were disappointed in me, or that your job as my teacher was done so you left without saying goodbye. I didn’t go back to look for you again because I was afraid of more disappointment. Can you understand that?”
“Can I understand the fear of rejection?” His voice is softer now and very near. “Yes, I know that pain.”
I frown, tilting my head. “Where are you?”
Abruptly, his voice changes. It seems to come from my bedroom door, then it bounces nearer as if he’s sitting at the foot of my bed. “I am here. With you. Always in your heart and in your mind.”
The last three words are a whisper in my left ear, and I startle, clapping my hand over it.
“God, don’t do that!”
“Ask a question, expect an answer.”
I roll my eyes, but I’m too glad to hear his voice again to be angry for long. “I’m singing the lead inSidewinderfor the preview performance tomorrow night.”
“I know this, as I know everything. I have come to give you another lesson.”
“It’s late. I can’t sing here,” I reply. “Do you want me to come to the stairwell?”
“The lesson is a simple one,” he says. “Not so much instruction as direction. Tomorrow night, when you perform the role of Eugenie, you will sing it for me. No one else.”
A chill travels up the back of my neck. When I told Raoul I would sing the role for him, we were completely alone, not a soul along the street, no one in the plaza in front of the building. Only a ghost or a spirit could have overheard what I said.
Every time I begin to wonder if he’s really a spirit, I’m faced with more proof of the fact that hemustbe. So why is there still a lingering doubt in the back of my mind?
